The present invention relates to an apparatus and method for creating ice and frosted sculptures. More particularly, it concerns an apparatus for forming these sculptures with refrigeration equipment to cool a surface of the sculpture sufficient to cause frost and ice to form on the surface from water vapor in the ambient air surrounding the surface and from water that is dripped onto the surface.
There are very few devices that can generate ice or frosted sculptures. Other than using a mold to form an ice sculpture, some of these devices use standard refrigeration equipment to create the ice or frost from water vapor in the ambient air surrounding the sculpture. For example, an apparatus of this type is described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,351,157, issued to Ziegler on Sep. 28, 1982. This device uses a compressor and a condenser to circulate and cool a refrigerant through a closed-loop system formed in part from a series of stacked helical coils in a predetermined shape. The stacked helical coils form the shape of the sculpture along with a metallic sheath that encases the stacked coils. The circulating refrigerant cools the coils and the sheath, thereby cooling the ambient air surrounding the coils and sheath. Initially, this causes a layer of frost to form on the sheath from water vapor in the ambient air surrounding the sheath. Thereafter, successive layers of frost are formed and transformed into a layer of ice, according to the patent. One disadvantage of this apparatus is that it requires a stack of helical coils to generate the cooling power necessary to form ice, which significantly limits the shape of the sculpture than can be formed since the shape of the sculpture is based on the stacking of the coils. Moreover, sculptures made according to Ziegler are extremely difficult and costly to make for relatively complex shapes as compared to the present invention.
Another apparatus that generates frosted sculptures is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,018,360, issued to Jones on May 28, 1991. Similar to Ziegler above, the Jones"" apparatus uses a compressor and a condenser to circulate cooled refrigerant through a closed-loop system. Instead of using stacked helical coils to circulate the refrigerant and form the shape of the sculpture, Jones circulates the refrigerant through a conduit that is shaped to form the sculpture. In this regard, the conduit actually forms part of the sculpture along with frost that forms thereon. In other words, the Jones conduit acts as a skeleton for frost growth. As a result of the cooled refrigerant circulating through the conduit (made of a thermally conductive material), water vapor in the ambient air around the conduit forms a layer of frost on the outer surface of the conduit. Jones has at least two disadvantages. First, since the conduit is merely a length of thermally conductive tubing, the shape of the sculpture is limited to that which can be formed by the conduit itself and minor modifications firther described in the Jones patent. Second, this apparatus only generates frosted sculptures and not ice sculptures.
The present invention uses elements never considered in the prior art to produce both frosted and ice sculptures and provides the flexibility needed to create a much wider variety of sculptures, unencumbered by the limitations inherent in the prior art.
The present invention is an apparatus and method for creating ice and/or frosted sculptures. The apparatus utilizes means to circulate and cool a refrigerant through a closed-loop system. The means to circulate and cool can include standard refrigeration equipment, such as a compressor and a condenser operatively coupled to the system. A section of the closed-loop system that contains the cooled refrigerant is attached or in close proximity to a sculpture surface. Preferably, the section is attached to the sculpture surface by silver soldering. The cooled refrigerant thereby reduces the temperature of the sculpture surface so that moisture in the ambient air surrounding the sculpture surface is cooled sufficiently to form frost and ice on the sculpture surface. Also, a fluid supply (e.g., water) and a means to distribute the fluid supply (e.g., a pump) may be utilized to provide fluid to the cooled sculpture surface to encourage additional ice formation on the sculpture surface.